The UK underground explodes onto US shores with this epic release from punk band 999! Bay Area Homicide, a Limited Edition 4CD box set, features previously unreleased live performances recorded at historic venues around San Francisco during 999’s monumental US tours in 1979 and 1980. This masterful collection includes raucously frenetic versions of the group’s smash hit singles, “Homicide” and “Emergency” plus fan favorites “Inside Out,” “Hollywood,” and “Boiler!” Each of the 4CDs comes in an individually designed wallet and the whole set is packaged with a full-color booklet featuring liner notes by renowned music journalist Dave Thompson. Bay Area Homicide comes to stores July 23rd courtesy of Cleopatra Records.

It all started in London 1976 when vocalists/guitarists Nick Cash and Guy Days held auditions and formed the band that included Jon Watson on bass and Pablo LaBritain on Drums. The following year they made their live debut in Northampton and landed a residency. The band gained a following from their constant gigging. “For any week in 1977,” Thompson writes in the liner notes, “chances are 999 were playing somewhere, and most probably on every night you looked.” They released their trailblazing debut album in 1977. Top songs from the album included “I’m Alive” and garage anthem hit, “Nasty Nasty,” which prompted some critics to prophesy that 999 “might conceivably be bigger still than the Sex Pistols.” Their first mainstream success was in 1978 when the single “Homicide” reached #40 on the UK chart. The same year, 999 embarked on their first US tour and by the end, 999’s “popularity had reached almost epidemic proportions.” After the 1985 release Face To Face, Watson left the group, and the band went on an extended hiatus. But 999 returned in the early ‘90s and released a string of well-received studio albums that have kept them in the spotlight even today.